Salaries of Delhi MLAs, ministers doubled

New Delhi: Salaries of Delhi MLAs and ministers were on Monday hiked by more than double, citing inflation and increased cost of living in the capital.

The Delhi Assembly passed an amendment bill to affect the hike in absence of BJP legislators as they were suspended from the House last week for the rest of the session for creating ruckus.

An MLA who currently gets nearly Rs 42,000 per month, including all incentives, will get nearly Rs one lakh while the monthly emolument of a minister will go up to Rs 1.30 lakh from the current Rs 60,000 a month.

The MLAs who get Rs 500 per day when the Assembly is in session will now get a daily allowance of Rs 1,000 throughout the year.

The house rent has been increased from current Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month for the MLAs while the monthly constituency allowance has been increased to Rs 18,000 from Rs 8,000.

The bill, which was already approved by Union Home Ministry in July, was presented by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Several Congress MLAs including Hasan Ahmed, Subhash Chopra and Mukesh Sharma opposed the hike saying it would send a wrong signal to the people who are reeling under high food inflation.

The basic salary of MLAs has been increased from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000 while basic salary of ministers has been hiked to Rs 20,000 from Rs 10,000 per month. Apart from basic salary, perks and allowances of MLAs and Ministers are almost same.

The legislators will also get Rs 12,000 towards phone bill and upto Rs 6,000 for water and electricity bills.

The MLAs will also get an annual travel allowance of Rs 50,000 instead of current from Rs 35,000.